Community

Democratic Business Model

Our project started with a strong support from our community and community is at the heart of what we do. Coffee Cranks Cooperative is a workers’ cooperative which means that we are both own and control our own workplace. This way we are contributing to establishing an economic alternative to the biased economic system that we find ourselves in.

Sustainable transport promotion

Based in Manchester we recognise the urgency of our city’s needs to use more sustainable modes of transport. We put pressure local government and support them with their implementation of legislation that encourage cycling. We also want to demonstrate that the modern urban environment isn’t doomed to using the car as a primary mode of transport. We believe that our city would be a safer, cleaner and healthier place to live if we gave the car a boot. This takes a lot of effort on many parts. We want to do our bit by building more cargo bikes, thus making them a lot more accessible than they would be otherwise. We are currently building two more bicycles and looking to expand our cooperative by recruiting new team members. These new members will be like minded individuals who would like to develop additional business models in order to keep the new bikes busy and to bring more vital services to the local community.

Skills for Sustainability

Potential is often squandered if it is not met with the right skills. We are focused not only on learning the required skills for leading less carbon intensive lifestyles, but also want to share these skills with others, thus increasing their potential. In order to do this we hope to teach and encourage people in our community to make things themselves, so that they can begin to extract themselves from the restricting centralised economy and its global supply chains. By doing this we are promoting skill sharing within the community in order to improve our capacity to provide for most of our needs locally.

Multinational tax evading corpo monsters? (NO! thank you)

We don’t agree with an economic reality which favours big business as we think centralisation of capital is inherently undemocratic. In such a model the capital is used to set rules for everyone else and whilst corporations quietly take over every facet of our existence. This system is based on continuous growth, is beyond control and is responsible for the environmental crisis we are currently witnessing. By providing mobile services we want to give people of Manchester the choice of shopping with a business that invests back into its community, rather than with one which has been actively responsible for killing the local business in the first place.

Land ownership/public space issues

We want to raise issues around land ownership, public access and liberty. We are led to believe that we are free to do pretty much what we please as long as we don’t hurt others. Same for economic activity, right? Particularly so if you’d like to improve the environment for everyone. It turns out it’s not that easy. The lack of real leadership on municipal level is further responsible for prohibitively expensive commercial space that discourages local entrepreneurs from starting up business. There are organisations and governments who are happy just to leave things as they are, because it serves their interests. We believe that the big business shouldn’t be allowed on Manchester high street. Delivering our services on a bike has an obvious access advantage enabling us to work in areas that couldn’t normally be accessed, however, it also raises issues as to why we had to do this in the first place and why there are so many problems with getting the city council to recognise and support a good project.

Please hover over the community tab in the main menu on our website to see our projects and our current collaborations. Do you have any ideas for collaboration? Please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.

Ros wolfe

Congratulations coffee cranks! I’m from another collective who tendered for the pavilion in Alexandra park, and we’d just like to say we’re really happy that you won – we’re just starting out and it’s lovely to see that it is possible for cooperatives to break through and get premises. Well done, you give us hope 😁

We’re really interested in using local spaces for community events etc; if you’d possibly be interested in chatting and hopefully working together please get in touch (rwolfie@live.co.uk).

Ros, would you send us an email with details about your project and what you do to cafe at coffeecrankscoop org uk please. Thank you. Looking forward to hearing from you.

carolyn

Read that you are coming to Alexandra Park. The previous inhabitants it has to be said were over priced and my concern as someone who has lived facing the park for the best part of 30 years, is that whoever comes, caters for the whole community and not just the well off. The park is surrounded by significant black, asian and working class communities and there was almost an aparteid system, where very few of these used / could afford to use the cafe. It is my belief that if you are on a high street, great, as much variety as possible, however when you are in a Public Park, you really should be accessible to everyone who might need refreshments. A neighbor of mine got a work placement and only stayed that day, as he felt it was too “posh” he felt most uncomfortable and also could not even eat there, as they did not have any halal options, most others just did not go. Out of their reach. Welcome and I do hope that you consider the issues raised. I really would like to see it serve EVERYONE.

Kath O

I agree with Carolyn. I was in the cafe this weekend and saw no evidence that the local community has been catered for. Where are the plantain crisps, chin chin, patties or Somali cakes? All these food stuffs are easily sourced from local providers and would be a clear declaration that the cafe is open for all in keeping with the original and enduring ethos of the park as an amenity for everyone in the local area.